


keep talking

by InkCaviness



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, brief mention of broccoli and kevin day, jean is tired and Gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 09:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7613380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkCaviness/pseuds/InkCaviness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s 7am sharp when Jean's phone’s alarm starts blaring some god awful song that he cannot for the life of him remember setting as his alarm and he bolts upright, a sheet of paper sticking to his left cheek.</p>
            </blockquote>





	keep talking

**Author's Note:**

> hi so basically im in jerejean hell and idk what this is

Jean isn’t quite sure what deity holds a personal grudge against him when he wakes up that Thursday morning after a mere half hour of sleep. It’s 7am sharp when his phone’s alarm starts blaring some god awful song that he cannot for the life of him remember setting as his alarm and he bolts upright, a sheet of paper sticking to his left cheek. Groggily he tries to find his phone in the mess of textbooks and papers for a good minute before he notices it lying on the floor next to his chair and finally turns off the alarm. He squints down at the screen to find three unread messages from Kevin and one remember to update his e-mail account. The first text in the preview starts with “and remember to eat the broccoli”. Jean quickly decides that conversation can wait and, even though he may act like it, Kevin won’t die if no one eats the precious organic broccoli he bought before remembering he’ll be out of town for the week.

 

Instead he gets up and shuffles over to the bathroom where he stares at his own reflection in the mirror above the sink. Underneath his eyes dark circles are etched into far too pale skin and he runs one hand through his messed up hair before reaching for his toothbrush. Ten minutes later he emerges in clean clothes with a beanie pulled over his head to hide the fact that he’d been too lazy to use a brush. A quick glance at the clock tells him that he still has an hour before his first class and he tries to bring his papers and books into some semblance of order before stuffing them into a messenger bag. When he gets to the kitchen the tiles are cold under his feet even through his socks. He throws one disgruntled look inside the fridge, only to find it empty except for a lonely head of broccoli and a half-empty carton of grape juice. He leans his head against the open door and sighs in defeat as his stomach grumbles before shutting the fridge. Reluctantly he pulls on his shoes, grabs the messenger bag and his keys before stepping out of the apartment.

 

The hallway is as dingy and gray as ever with the glaringly bright neon light on the ceiling occasionally flickering like in a scene out of a bad horror movie and the permanent stench of piss in the elevator makes Jean turn towards the stairs. Once he steps outside he realizes that even though the winters in California aren’t in any way as cold as what he’s used to he still should’ve taken a jacket. Instead all he has to protect himself against the early morning chill are a ratty USC sweater and his bad hair day beanie. He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans and draws up his shoulders before hurrying down the street. He doesn’t have a real destination, all he knows is that he needs some kind of breakfast and so when he steps around the corner his eyes catch on the bright red sign of   _Troja Coffee._ He’s walked past the shop every morning on his way to campus but so far he didn’t pay it any attention. Now that he looks in through the large front window he can see that the shop is mostly deserted except from a girl sitting in the back corner furiously typing away on her laptop. Even though he can’t see anyone behind the counter Jean takes a deep breath and pushes open the door. A tiny bell chimes brightly once he steps inside and immediately a shock of bleached blond curls appears from pops up from behind. The young man is sporting an apron in the bright red and gold colors of USC and an even brighter smile as he watches Jean walk up to the counter.

 

“Welcome to Troja Coffee”, he greets him, the smile on his face firmly tucked in place, “What can I get for you?”

 

Jean is frozen in silence as his eyes flit back and forth between the menu board on the wall and the cashier. He has warm tawny brown skin with a disarray of freckles smattered across his cheeks and Jean stuffs his hands deeper into his pockets.

 

“I don’t really know why I’m here”, he finally blurts out and immediately tells himself to just _shut up_ , “I don’t even like coffee but all I have at home is broccoli.”

 

For a moment the cashier stares at Jean with his eyebrows drawn up in surprise. His nametag reads Jeremy and Jean hopes this is all just a dream.

 

“Well”, Jeremy finally says and draws out the words before he lets out a cheery laugh, “That’s okay, we’ve got other stuff than coffee too and I promise you none of it contains broccoli. Or at least as far as I know it doesn’t.”

 

Jean awkwardly shifts his weight from one foot to the other and pulls his right hand of his pocket to scratch the back of his neck.

 

“Ah yea, right”, he mutters and glances at the menu again. “I think I’ll just have tea?”

 

“Great!” Jeremy exclaims and goes to grab a cup as jean wonders how any human being can be this excited before noon or, really, during any time of the day. “We just got this new hibiscus tea, it’s pretty cool. You wanna try it?”

 

Jean nods. “A large please.”

 

“It’ll be done in a sec! You got a name to go with that?”

 

There’s really no reason for that since he’s the only customer but something about that grin makes Jean feel a little lighter for the first time in a long while. “Jean.”

 

He watches patiently as Jeremy scribbles something on a paper cup. “Anything else I can do for you?”

 

 _Just keep talking to me_ , is the first thing that pops into Jean’s mind but he quickly swallows that thought down and eyes the sandwiches and pastries lined up in the glass case next to the counter.

 

“Yeah, I’ll have that cheese sandwich. To go please.”

 

“Coming right up!”

 

A moment later the shorter man hands a paper bag and the filled cup across the counter and Jean drops a few crumpled bills into his hand.

 

“I hope I’ll see you around”, Jeremy says and jean nods with something close to a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

 

He only looks down at the cup in his hands when he’s outside and already halfway to campus. A line of numbers a written on it with a message scribbled underneath.

_Call me? –Jeremy :)_

His first instinct tells him to ignore it, to just throw the cup away, this is dangerous this is too close but his stomach twists in a way that, somehow, isn’t unpleasant at all and in the end he stuffs the empty cup into his bag, the faint aftertaste of hibiscus still lingering on his tongue. He waits until he gets home until he pulls it out again and saves it on his phone.

 

**This is Jean.**

 

He sends the message and then stares at the three letters in distaste. The sound gruff, almost rude but even after a year of regularly texting Renee he’s not quite used to this yet. Jean is glad when Jeremy replies quickly and he clutches the phone in his hands as the little ‘typing’ bubble appears.

 

_hi jean! this is jeremy but i guess u  already know that!_

Before Jean gets a chance to come up with some kind of response the next text already pops up.

 

_maybe this is a bit sudden but do u maybe wanna go out sometime? maybe not for coffee haha_

Jean has to bite his bottom lip as he reads the message to stop his smile before he reminds himself that he’s allowed to smile, that he’s allowed to be _happy_ about this.

 

**I heard this new pizza store just opened up a down the street. Tomorrow at 7?**

He’s fairly sure that’s the longest texts he’s ever sent to anyone other than Renee.

 

_its a date :)_

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on [tumblr](http://inkcaviness.tumblr.com)


End file.
